Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Two Iranian police killed, four abducted in ambush attack near Pakistan border

Xinhua

A group of Iranian police were ambushed late Tuesday in Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Pakistan, leaving two police killed and four others kidnapped, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.Police commander Esmael Ahmadi-Mogadam was quoted as saying that "seven police fell victim to an ambush by rebels, two were killed and another four were abducted", without disclosing the seventh police's destiny.

"The rebels in two cars escaped towards Pakistan," said Ahmadi- Mogadam.

The commander complained that "the Pakistani side lacks cooperation with Iran to fight against these rebels", underscoring that "this position is not acceptable."

Sistan-Baluchestan province borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Earlier this month, 13 Revolutionary Guards members were killed in a car bomb explosion in the provincial capital Zahedan.

Iran's security forces usually clash with local armed groups which were involved in drugs smuggling. Sistan-Baluchestan and its close province of Kerman have been hit by a string of attacks and kidnappings in the past years, which Iranian authorities blamed on a Sunni group called Jundallah.